Lawmaker wants ban on indoor tanning by youth under 18

Now 22, the Central Michigan University student and Dearborn native was diagnosed with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, in August 2010.

Goulet was in Lansing on Thursday with her Oakland County dermatologist, Kay Watnick, to support legislation from Royal Oak Democrat Jim Townsend that would ban indoor tanning by minors under the age of 18.

Goulet’s message: She doesn’t think she would have contracted skin cancer if she hadn’t started tanning while in high school.

That’s a message Townsend hopes Michigan lawmakers will hear.

“We’re not trying to punish a business, we’re trying to change behavior as we have with smoking and drunk driving,” Townsend said Thursday. “I’m hopeful people will look past partisanship and look at the core issue of protecting young people from the dangers of tanning beds.”

The legislation introduced by Townsend last week is House Bills 4404 and 4405.

One bill would ban indoor tanning by minors, and another would create a registry of tanning salons.

Current law requires parental consent for indoor tanning by minors.

“The problem with the law as it exists now is there’s no enforcement mechanism or ability to hold these facilities accountable,” Townsend said.

Townsend’s legislation has the support of the Michigan State Medical Society, the Michigan Dermatological Society and the American Cancer Society Action Network.

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta says people who begin indoor tanning younger than age 35 have a 75 percent higher risk of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer and the number one cancer killer of young women nationwide.

The CDC says 13 percent of all high school students use indoor tanning salons, and as many as 32 percent of teenage girls in 12th grade.

So far, only California and Vermont have banned the use of indoor tanning beds by minors. Wisconsin bans tanning for youth 16 and under.

The National Conference of State Legislatures says 33 states have some sort of regulations